Towson University

Faculty Member, Biological Sciences

Assistant Professor

Department of Biological Sciences

About

Dr. Beck’s primary research interests include mammal-plant interaction, multi trophic-level interactions, and ecosystem engineering. His main study sites are located within the Peruvian Amazonas. He has worked on the effects of natural disturbances such as treefall gaps on small mammal community and diversity. Employing long-term exclosure experiments he quantified the consequences of seed predation by mammals of different body sizes. More recently, he has focused on the impacts of peccaries on the seedling and fern communities. In addition, Dr. Beck is testing if peccary function as ecosystem engineers by creating and maintaining wallows, terrestrial water bodies which could be crucial breeding and foraging habitats for invertebrate and vertebrate taxa. With his graduate student, Jim Bressette, he is investigating the tropic cascading effects of high deer densities in Virginia. In collaboration with Chara Batchelder, he is evaluating how Lyme disease spreads within mammal populations across Maryland.

Contact Information

Homepage: http://www.towson.edu/biology/TU%20Biology%20H%20Beck.htm

Address: Towson University
Department of Biological Sciences
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21235, USA

Telephone: (410) 704-3125